Saturday, December 20, 2014

It's good to see that so many have responded in kind, calling out the patronizing (and probably racist) attitudes Geldof has expressed towards all of Africa.

I found "Do They Know It's Christmas?" offensive when it first came out -- and was offended by how few African-Americans Geldof even knew (Jody Watley is one of the few African-Americans who appears on the original recording).

Music.

I'm still trying to narrow down the album of the year.

The easy cop-out would be to have a five-way tie.

I can't do that.

I've done a three-way tie before. But I think I'll most likely try to boil it down to a two-way tie.

I don't usually have to put this much thought into it; however, I don't usually have so many amazing albums in one year.

Of the ones I've reviewed, they've been amazing: the return of The Afghan Whigs, Stevie Nicks in rare form, Aretha Franklin slamming it down hard, Tori Amos reminding us all how much she can move us even when she strips it down to simplicities, Chrissie Hynde rocking more than anyone could imagine, Neil Young's epic, Ben Harper's beautiful album with his mother, Prince blasting out not one classic but two classic albums . . .

That's what the press has insisted all week long and what we've disputed all week long.

"Why would they fight for a government that refuses to respect them?
[New Prime Minister Haider] Abadi is just another face on the same
Shiite agenda – and the Sunni anger will continue until there is
meaningful change in Baghdad."

That's Sunni Sheikh Mohammad Ramadi (al-Bajan tribe) and we'll get back
to him and the article that's the most important one on Iraq this week
in a moment.

But first . . .

Let's take a moment to reflect on this week, this week of propaganda.

Where the US State Dept worked overtime in Iraq.

A first!

Sadly, the work wasn't on the Iraqi government or diplomacy.

It was selling propaganda to the press.

Again, I hope the press got something out of it because all news consumers got was b.s.

If you've forgotten, the propaganda effort was Haider al-Abadi and his healing touch.

The rollout started early this week with any outlet the State Dept could
corral, blackmail, bully or buy pimping the lie that Haider had brought
unity to Iraq.

The effort was supposed to culminate with the column written for -- not by
-- Haider which appeared on the op-ed pages of the Wall St. Journal
exclaiming that a national identity had been forged for Iraq via the
Iraqi military. For those a little slow on the uptake that would mean,
ultimately, by Haider himself since he is commander-in-chief of the
military.

Wow.

How amazing.

How wonderful.

The war is being won! Soon the US will be able to come home!

There are some who will believe that nonsense.

There are idiots all over the world.

Equally true, to some, this spin is new.

They were too young to have caught it from 2003 through 2007 when it was
constantly repeated. (And when it constantly proved to be false.)

But most adults should have caught on.

And they should have called it out.

Instead, it was just us.

And there's gonna come a time when we're not here. I'm sick of the
internet. I'm sick of writing every day for over ten years now without a
day off.

What was this week's big faux scandal? The thing that had the Center
for American Progress, The Nation, The Progressive, et al up in arms?

Because it sure as hell wasn't Iraq and it sure as hell wasn't the same
corporate media yet again selling lies to the American people about
Iraq.

I hope whatever crap the faux independent media of CAP, The Nation, et
al passed off as important at least provided giggles because it provided
no substance and had no real point at all.

(What was it? Largely it was a propaganda effort to convince you that
Senator Elizabeth Warren -- anti-Palestinian rights, Republican until
she ran for the Senate, falsely passed herself off as a Native American
to benefit in hiring, anti-Iran, etc -- was the one to take down Hillary
Clinton. Reality, Elizabeth doesn't photograph normal and her voice
will be irritating to most American ears. The best she could hope for
is the same results as another politician who struck Americans as a
"freak," Paul Simon. She's not electable on a national scale for 2016.)

Some place the cost of the Iraq War at a trillion dollars for US taxpayers.

If for no other reason, this week's lies of success should matter for financial reasons.

3 US service members have died in the operation during the four months. But no one wants to talk about that either.

What they want to do is sell you lies about 'unity' being built in Iraq by the military.

They want to point to an oil deal between the KRG and the Baghdad-based
government as proof when that's only proof of the power of the Kurds and
the leadership of KRG President Massoud Barzani. (As we've pointed out
several time this week already, the US government opposed that deal and
prevented it from happening for years. The strategic importance of the
Kurdish peshmerga in Iraq's current battles means the Kurds have plenty
of pull and plenty of leverage if they know how to use and Barzani
does.)

For every area where US military trainers are deployed and weapons and
other supplies have been delivered - to Kurdish fighters trying to hold
the Syrian border town of Kobane, foir example, and minority Yazidis
marooned on Sinjar Mountain in Iraq - there are many Sunni communities
in which resentment is rising because there has been no response from
Baghdad or Washington to their desperate pleas for help.

Every time someone like David Phillips lies, it makes it that much
harder for what's going on to be understood -- which is why whores like
that lie in the first place, to confuse the issue.

Barack's 'plan' is not working and it will not work.

But the hope is if you keep bombing enough for a few years, you'll exhaust the people.

That's no plan at all.

For it to make 'sense,' it requires a lot of dirty whores using their filthy mouths to tell lies to confuse people.

The Sunnis have real complaints, justifiable ones, about a government
that targeted them, that raped them, that tortured them and that killed
them.

That, by the way, is the supposed type of government the US was liberating Iraq from.

Instead, it is the type of government that two consecutive White Houses have imposed upon Iraq.

In 2006, Nouri al-Maliki was not the choice of the Iraqi people; nor was he in 2010.

In both cases, he was the choice of the White House -- Bully Boy Bush and Barack both chose to impose him on the Iraqi people.

That's a reality that needs to be recognized as well.

B-b-b-b-ut that's the past! Nouri is no more!

Wrong.

The thug is plotting his return and the thug is now one of Iraq's three vice presidents.

Much is made of how, in 'new' Iraq, Haider fired some of Nouri's corrupt officials.

Less is made of what actually happened to them.

Back to Paul McGeough's report for the Sydney Morning Herald:Mr Maliki also has a powerful personal network – when Mr Abadi sacked 85
former Maliki employees from the Green Zone, including Mr Maliki's son,
the former prime minister immediately recruited them to the payroll at
the Office of the Presidency.

They were corrupt! So Haider fired them! And got good press for it! And continues to!

But the reality is they're still on the government payroll.

There was no accountability at all.

Haider's either an inept coward or he's in on the corruption with Nouri.

And the highly popular video recording of Haider and Nouri suggests that
he's in on the corruption with Nouri and the two are sharing a laugh at
both the Iraqi people and the US government.

All Iraq News notes that Haider met with US Senator Pat Roberts today and that Haider insisted that he will eliminate terrorism throughout Iraq.

So Haider's going to be the one to put the bullet through Nouri's head?
Because, make no mistake, Nouri al-Maliki is a terrorist and one that
needs to be run out of Iraq.

The inept and weak Haider can't even get Nouri out of the prime minister's residence.

The only real news coming out of Iraq this week has been about the Kurdish success -- see Al Jazeera, CNN among other outlets or just read Ned Parker's Tweet:

The
Pentagon has hailed the deaths of several top leaders of ISIS, but
experts say this is far from enough to cripple what has proven to be a
resilient organization.U.S. officials say airstrikes have killed
several senior and mid-level jihadis including Abu Muslim al-Turkmani,
the right hand man of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, dealing a serious blow to the group’s operations.But
analysts warn that disruptions of this type are often fleeting and that
the U.S.-led coalition needs to look beyond its military campaign to
weaken the group that has become the world’s most feared jihadi
organization since proclaiming a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq six months ago.“Eliminating
key leaders is a means to disrupt plots and degrade capabilities. But
they do not defeat or destroy terrorist organizations,” said Bruce
Riedel, a former CIA agent and adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama
who is now a leading terrorism expert.

Met the #UN envoy to #Iraq, discussed how to help refugees and agreed that #ISIS cannot be defeated without national reconciliation.

0 replies20 retweets13 favorites

National Iraqi News Agency notes
he paid a visit to Jalal Talabani on Friday. The noted shut in remains
grossly obese and unable to speak beyond grunts and a few rasps.

While he was President of Iraq, Jalal
Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December
17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot). Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012,
he was moved to Germany. He remained there until after his term expired in the spring of 2014.

Only in corrupt Iraq could someone unable to fulfill their duties remain in office for a year and a half.

And only someone as corrupt as Jalal could remain in a hospital for
nearly 18 months without losing a single pound. Anyone else would be
forced, by doctor's orders, to limit their consumption of food and be
forbidden to consume empty calories but Jalal was fed only the best in
sugar riches goodies while he was being 'treated' for his stroke. Some
Talabani family members privately point out that not only did the
grossly obese Jalal not lose any weight during his lengthy hospital stay
but that he actually put more pounds on. That sort of non-medical
oversight might explain some of his inability to truly recover from his
stroke.

Visiting sick beds is only part of Allawi's duties these days. He's
also been tasked by Iraq's President Fuad Masum to work on the issue of
reconciliation with the Sunni community. And we bring this up not
because of the Thursday international meet-up that received no press
coverage in the west but because of Haider.

Who has Haider tasked to do the same?

The answer, of course, is no one.

So the ceremonial post of president has someone interested enough in
reconciliation to task a vice president to work on the issue while the
person actually in charge of Iraq, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, can't
be bothered with the issue?

The results of that show -- for all the world to see.

Another thing on show?

Barack's left his zipper open and his xenophobia is showing for all the world to see yet again.

Marwan Bishara (Al Jazeera) notes Barack
has only sat down with one Arab journalist for an interview and that
was back in 2009. With Barack ordering various US military efforts in
the region -- The Drone War, the continued Iraq War, etc. -- it really
is beholden upon him to reach out to Arab media. Bishara notes:As the Obama administration intensifies US air strike and deepens the
US' military involvement in the region, President Obama has a
moral responsibility to talk to the nations at the receiving end of
American power.For example, as the commander-in-chief, Obama needs to clarify the
objectives and duration of the ongoing US military operations in Syria
and Iraq and the reasons why he secretly signed the order to expand
American military operations in Afghanistan in 2015 to include fighting
the Taliban. Like many in the region, I am puzzled by the president's claim that
US foreign policy is driven by the principle "right makes might", and I
would love to hear a few answers regarding the specifics of how US
military deployments square with his vision.The president has rightly insisted on more than a few occasions that
military solutions are not sufficient to deal with the threat of
extremism and terrorism which implies, among other things, the need to
win "hearts and minds".That requires direct communication with the most fragile and
alienated elements of the Arab and Muslims societies that are prone to
extremism.

If the president truly believes America is a force of good even when
it acts poorly; that America's objectives are to help the helpless
minorities, to mediate peace, and to empower those who root for
democratic and prosperous societies in Arab and Muslim lands, then all
he needs to do is answer the questions on people's minds.

Thursday, December 18, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, more US
troops will be going into Iraq, a US general predicts a three year
training mission in Iraq (at least), the Ministry of Women still has no
funding, the Islamic State beheads a man accused of . . . witchery, and
much more.

Barack Obama's 'plan' for Iraq continues to remain sparse on details. But some are attempting to sketch it the outline out. Andrew Tilghman (Navy Times) quotes US
Lt Gen James Terry stating that US troops will spend a "minimum of
three years" training Iraqi soldiers. Terry also declared more US troops
would be going into Iraq.

On the subject of US troops in Iraq, the Washington Post's Erin Cunninham Tweeted the following:

On the topic of training the administration and the military brass keep spinning, others are less impressed. At Rudaw a comment offers this take, "The USA teach them to take their boots off so they can run faster."

It's hard to tell who that is more insulting to -- the US government or the Iraqi military?

The Iraqi miliary continues to struggle but the Peshmerga continues to do well.

BBC reports that the Kurds have broken the Islamic State's siege on Mount Sinjar.

Offical Benghazi Liar Dirty Rice: Our air campaign is off to a strong start and we've seen very
important successes in places like Mosul Dam, Sinjar Mountain, where we
were able to rescue many tens of thousands of civilians at risk. And
this is going to take time. So it can't be judged by merely what happens
in one particular town or in one particular region. This is going to
take time and the American people need to understand that our aim here
is long-term degradation and building the capacity of our partners.

So two months and three days after the liar claimed Mount Sinjar was
liberated and it was a US success, Mount Sinjar is liberated and it's a
Kurdish Peshmerga success

Poor Susan Rice. No one ever gets more egg on their face from the Sunday Chat & Chews.

Wanting to grab some of the Kurdish luster, US officials keep getting cozy with the Kurds.

Case in point?

The White House issued the following today:This afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Iraqi Kurdistan
Regional President Masoud Barzani. The Vice President and President
Barzani discussed recent security and political developments. The Vice
President discussed with President Barzani the passage of congressional
legislation that removes certain undue restrictions on members of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) under U.S. immigration laws. This new law should help ease the
process for many Iraqi Kurds who wish to visit the United States. The
Vice President commended the courage of the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi
Security Forces fighting against ISIL, and President Barzani thanked the
United States and the international community for their support. Both
the Vice President and President Barzani noted the renewed cooperation
between Erbil and Baghdad and agreed to work together, alongside other
Iraqi leaders, to sustain and deepen collaboration among Iraq’s
different communities. The Vice President underscored America’s enduring
support for the Kurdish people and for the security of Iraq.

Enduring support?

Joe's always good for a few laughs.

While the Kurds continue to succeed, the Iraqi military is lucky to just struggle.

And questions continue to swirl around that failure.

Rudaw notes
Parliament is holding hearings to attempt to figure out the breakdown
of the Iraqi army. News of the Parliamentary investigation. Rudaw
readers leave some interesting comments including, "When will Maliki be
questioned?" Another offers this wish:I hope they publicize everything they find in this commission and
arrest Malaki, it's not only in Mosul the Iraqi army collapsed
completely, what about all the other regions? Malaki had hand picked
the generals in Mosul, he ignored repeated warnings about IS activity
months before Mosul fell. Just 2 days before Mosul fell he deliberately
put a Kurdish general in charge of one of the (empty) brigades, this
was the only brigade that had no weapons or even ammunition, he not only
wanted Mosul to fall but wanted to pin it on Kurds."

Those two aren't the only ones mentioning former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki. Al Arabiya News reports:The president of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani,
blamed on Monday former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the
collapse of the Iraqi army in the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) earlier this year.In an exclusive interview
with Al Arabiya's Rima Maktabi, Barzani also said the swift collapse of
the Iraqi army came after substantial years of international support to
train and equip the military.

During the interview, he also said
that were it not for the Peshmerga forces, the northern, oil-rich city
of Kirkuk would have fallen to ISIS, which occupies almost a third of
Iraq.

Joe Biden's not the only one trying to steal the Kurds' luster. The Iraqi Embassy in DC issued the following today:

Prime
Minister Haider Al-Abadi penned an opinion piece in The Wall Street
Journal on [December] 18, 2014, to outline progress in defeating ISIS and
rebuilding a secure and stable Iraq since the formation of the new
government three months ago.The Prime Minister discussed efforts to empower local communities in
order to effectively combat ISIS. "We are restoring relationships with
the Sunni tribes that are based in areas now under Islamic State
domination. These tribes are being armed and are currently fighting
alongside Iraqi security forces."On the political front, Prime Minister Al-Abadi hailed the
"long-sought, long-term agreement" with the Kurdistan Regional
Government as a historic step that "provides for fair sharing of oil
revenues, as well as sharing the resources and responsibilities to
defend and serve all our people."He also highlighted key steps that his government has taken to
implement reforms that will serve to address the grievances of local
populations. "Because every citizen must have confidence in our system of justice,
I have signed a decree requiring our security forces and the Ministry
of Justice to safeguard the constitutional and human rights of the
detainees in Iraqi jails. There will be a central record for all
detainees, including the reason for their arrests and the timeline for
their trials."The Prime Minister noted significant gains against ISIS on the
battlefront through close coordination between the Iraqi Security
Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and the international coalition. He called
on international partners to step up efforts in order to accelerate the
defeat of ISIS. "We need air support, training and armaments for Iraq’s security
forces. We need our neighbors and allies to stop the flow of foreign
fighters into Iraq. And we need the international community, through its
financial institutions, to freeze the funding of Islamic State."Prime Minister Al-Abadi explained his government's approach moving
forward: "Only by rebuilding a secure and stable Iraq can we defeat the
terrorists who draw upon discontent and feed on failure." ---To read the Arabic translation of the Prime Minister's Wall Street Journal editorial click here.

The above is a summary of a December 18, 2014 article from The Wall Street Journal. To see the full article, click here.

While that's what Haider wrote, what the song he sang in his heart to the Kurds went something like this:

I have your poster close to my bed
Earphones glued to my head
But I'd rather have you in my arms insteadAnd I'd be better than I was before
If only I had you
If only I had
If only I had
If only I had your
Stardust
Your glamour is golden
Stardust
I'd feel so important
Stardust
If only I knew you
Stardust
I want to be near you
Stardust
-- "Stardust," lyrics by Carly Simon, music by Carly and Mike Mainieri, first appears on Carly's Come Upstairs

President Obama spoke by phone today with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi to discuss the political and security situation in Iraq and the
progress of Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to counter ISIL.
The President commended the steps that Prime Minister al-Abadi has taken
in the first three months of his administration to govern inclusively
and begin building a united front among Iraqis to combat ISIL. The
President congratulated the Prime Minister on the conclusion of the
recent oil revenue-sharing arrangement with the Kurdistan Regional
Government and reiterated his commitment to supporting the Iraqi
Security Forces’ success through train and assist programs, provision of
weapons and equipment, and airstrikes. He also noted U.S. support for
the Iraqi government’s ongoing efforts to integrate Sunni tribal
fighters into Iraq’s security institutions.

While Barack was happy to talk about that, he remains silent on whether or not US troops in Iraq were in combat this week.

American troops in Iraq had their first
actual battle with ISIS troops after the Islamist militants tried to
overrun a base, an encounter that left the ISIS troops decimated and in
retreat.

The attack took place near the Ein al-Asad base, which includes close
to 100 U.S. military advisers. The U.S. troops, armed with “light and
medium weapons,” and were able to inflict casualties against the ISIS
fighters, forcing them to retreat, Shafaq News
reported. The American troops were also aided by fighter jets, which
directed air strikes against the ISIS troops that “silenced their heavy
sources of fire.”“US forces intervened because of ISIS started to come near the base,
which they are stationed in so out of self-defense,” said Sheikh Mahmud
Nimrawi, a prominent tribal leader.

Since he has promised US troops on the ground in Iraq would not be in
combat, if they were in combat, the White House needs to be the first to
note what took place.

Let's change topics . . .

Sorcerer
Who is the master
A man and woman on a star stream
In the middle of a snow dream
Sorcerer
Show me the high life
Come over
Let me put you on ice
-- "Sorcerer," words and music by Stevie Nicks, first appears on her Trouble in Shangri-La

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Thursday beheaded a man
publicly on charges that he was a "sorcerer," north of their bastion of
Tikrit, the Islamist militant organization and residents said.The group released pictures of the execution on a square in Nahyat al-Alam, a town a few kilometers north of Tikrit.

The Islamic State killing people for being sorcerer is actually less
shocking that Nouri al-Maliki sending his Ministry of Interior employees
into schools to tell Iraq's young adults and children that emo youth
were actually vampires who sucked people's blood. And that was Nouri's
Ministry. He refused to nominate anyone to head it so he could control
it.

There are no real women's rights in Iraq. The US government pretty much
destroyed those with the invasion of Iraq and the installation of
fundamentalists as well as efforts in the original drafts of the Iraqi
Constitution -- overseen by the US government -- to strip women of all
rights.

If the meeting was at all serious, wouldn't they need the Minister for the State of Women's Affairs to be present?

NIQASH: Most international studies are critical of the status of Iraqi women. What plans does your Ministry have to improve this situation?

Bayan Nouri: We have a strategy with
six different platforms and these are legal, educational,
health-related, professional and leadership-related as well as assisting
institutions that work on women’s issues.

There is no doubt that the situation for women has
worsened over the past four years and it certainly cannot be repaired in
four years. However, we will continue to try, in all areas, to improve
the situation by paying more attention to family protection units,
assisting them to reduce domestic violence. We also want to improve the
economic status of Iraqi women by granting small loans in coordination
with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. We will also coordinate
with the Ministry of Education in order to look more closely at the
education of females because there is a big gap between the number of
females and males who complete middle and secondary school. We are also
coordinating better with the Ministry of Health, paying better attention
to women’s health and to infant mortality rates. We also care about
female participation in decision making.

NIQASH: After decades of conflict, Iraq has a huge number of widows – an estimated one million. Can your Ministry help them?

Nouri: I have only been in office for
about 50 days and during that time, the federal budget for 2014 wasn’t
even approved. We do have plans for 2015 though and these involve seeing
a percentage of these widows employed or to have them improve their own
financial situation through small business loans. We also want to
provide residential units at discounted prices.

NIQASH: At one stage, you said that domestic
violence was actually the most common kind of violence in Iraq – despite
all of the fighting that is going on.

Nouri: We’re trying to hold training
courses in this area, we have established family protection units and we
also have draft family protection law before the Cabinet. When this law
is passed, it’s going to have a big impact.

Like Nouri al-Maliki, Haider al-Abadi refuses to fund the Ministry of Women.

For those who've forgotten, this became a public issue in Nouri's first term.

All this time later, with a new prime minister, there's still no fund for the Ministry of Women.

All Iraq News reports Haider's dropped all lawsuits against journalists. These were Nouri's lawsuits. Haider issued the following statements:

"Based on the freedom of journalism and supporting the journalists, Abadi
decided to cancel all the judicial complaints submitted by the CoM
against the journalists in order to have a bigger role for the media
outlets to contribute in building Iraq and serving the Iraqis."

That is great . . .

except . . .

Nouri didn't always sue.

He had no respect for the press -- something only the BBC would note in
July of 2006 and, yes, we can go back to that because that was a
shameful period for the western press.

But he only started filing lawsuits -- most infamously against the
Guardian newspaper -- after he'd been in office awhile and had gotten a
taste of negative press.

Haider's had nothing but flowers and chocolates from the western press.

Meaning?

He's dropping Nouri's lawsuits.

Big deal.

They were over when Nouri was forced out as prime minister anyway.

He issued some flowery words and that's really all it was.

No one knows how he will react to negative press.

It's silly to pretend a politician who's gotten nothing but high praise
from supposed to be skeptical reporters is a friend of the press.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Joseph Kishore (WSWS) reports on the blight that is Antonin Scalia:US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the longest-serving justice
on the country’s highest judicial body, has proclaimed torture
legitimate and in accordance with the US Constitution.Scalia’s
remarks were made last Wednesday, the day after the Senate Intelligence
Committee released its report on CIA interrogations. The report
documents depraved and sadistic methods of torture used against over 100
prisoners held by the intelligence agency, under the direction of the
Bush administration. The techniques include forcing prisoners to stand
chained to a wall for more than two weeks at a time, sometimes on broken
limbs; keeping prisoners awake for more than two weeks; death threats;
“ice baths;” repeated near-drowning (“waterboarding”); and a form of
sexual assault known as “rectal rehydration.”“The Constitution
says nothing whatever about torture,” Scalia said in an interview with
Swiss radio network RTS. “It speaks of punishment; ‘cruel and unusual’
punishments are forbidden.”

I think people accept and settle for this crap because they don't know the way things work.

Yes, the Supreme Court is pretty much a lifetime appointment.

But it can be interrupted.

You can impeach a justice on the Supreme Court.

In the case of Scalia, I think that should have happened a long time ago.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, the
targeting of religious minorities continues, look which senator refused
to call it out, a lot of spin on Iraq insists things are improving,
reality argues otherwise, and much more.

We'll start with a letter senators have sent to Secretary of State John Kerry. From Senator Roger Wicker's office:WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sherrod Brown,
D-Ohio, today led a bipartisan effort calling on Secretary of State John
Kerry to assist religious minorities facing persecution in Syria and
Iraq, such as Christians and Yazidis, to find refuge in the United
States. The Senators also urged the State Department to provide these
minorities with better access to U.S. humanitarian aid.

“The
oppression of Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and
Iraq has led to an unspeakable humanitarian crisis,” Wicker
said. “Tens of thousands have had to flee their homes to seek sanctuary
from the Islamic State – whose savage treatment of these people is
well-documented. The United States has historically protected minorities
facing similar circumstances. We should do so again now.”

“We have an obligation to stand up for human rights,” Brown
said. “The U.S. has pledged humanitarian assistance for relief in Iraq
and Syria, and that should include refugee assistance for persecuted
religious minorities facing persecution.”

The Senators’ letter
specifically calls for “the creation of a Priority 2 (P-2) group under
the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for religious
minorities from Iraq and Syria.”

This new classification would
provide a process for Christians, Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, and others
to be considered for resettlement in the United States. In the past,
this designation has been used for groups of humanitarian concern,
including religious minorities from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and
Iran.

We
write to encourage you to take expeditious action to protect Christians
and other vulnerable religious minorities from the unprecedented level
of violence in Iraq and Syria.

The creation of a Priority 2
(P-2) group under the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP)
for religious minorities from Iraq and Syria would provide a structured
process for Christians, Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, and others to be
considered for resettlement in the United States. This designation has
been used for groups of humanitarian concern, including religious
minorities from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and Iran. Although the
Administration has announced that it will create more places for Syrian
refugees, we have not stated that religious minorities such as
Christians will be considered for admission to the United States.

Religious
minorities also have difficulty accessing humanitarian assistance due
to the hostility and discrimination that they face from other citizens,
including other refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights has acknowledged that religious minorities avoid camps for
this reason. As such, we encourage you to direct the U.S. Agency for
International Development to ensure that religious minorities have
sufficient access to the nearly $2 billion in aid that the United States
has pledged for humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq and Syria.

Religious
cleansing has reached historic levels in the Middle East. Since the
beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011, President Bashar al-Assad,
Syrian rebels, and terrorist groups have targeted religious minorities
for violence. In Iraq, Christians, Yazidis, and Mandeans have lived in
fear of terrorist groups for the last decade. Now, the brutal Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has openly vowed to end the
existence of religious minorities in the Middle East. Accordingly, we
urge you to act swiftly to help protect religious minorities in Iraq and
Syria.

In the December 10th snapshot,
we noted the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing which
featured Rand Paul's embarrassing grandstanding and his incessant
caterwauling about Syrian Christians (while ignoring Iraqi Christians).

It's parked at Baghdad International airport but it's not been handed
over -- and this point has been firmly established repeatedly by both
Iraq Times and Kitabat.

I have no idea whether or not Ibrahim al-Jaafari is a fake ass but he's a joke.

In December 2005, Iraqis voted. No one was named prime
minister-designate for months because the Iraqi Parliament wanted to
name Ibrahim al-Jaafari to the post but Bully Boy Bush and his
administration didn't want that. They didn't care for al-Jaafari, they
feared his personal militia, didn't want him to have a second term as
prime minister, etc.

So they forced the pockmarked faced thug Nouri off on Iraq.

Ibrahim never really stood up to Nouri in the eight years that followed
despite the hopes of Ibrahim's followers that their leader would
discover a spine.

Now Ibrahim has a post.

Foreign Minister!

Yeah, it is a huge step down.

All that's left below it is parking valet.

Hoshyar Zebari held the post for 8 years. It's photo ops and nothing more.

Xinhua reports of Jaafari:Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government has been in power for only
months' time, and the city of Mousl is still in the hands of the IS
militants, yet Iraq has made "great" progress in political reforms and
the security situation is improving, he said, adding that the IS
terrorists have started to pull back.

That's a sweet little dream. It's not reality but fairy tales have lulled many at bedtime.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is boosting its presence
in Iraq’s restive Al-Anbar province in a bid to turn Baghdad’s
attention away from the liberation of Mosul, a senior Iraqi military
commander said on Wednesday. The senior Iraqi military officer, who spoke on the condition that his name and rank would not be disclosed, told Asharq Al-Awsat
that the battle for Mosul, which government forces are presently
gearing up for, would be “critical” to the defeat ISIS. Mosul, the
provincial capital of neighboring Nineveh governorate, has been under
ISIS control since June.

“We can say that the fate of ISIS is tied to the result of the battle
of Mosul, more than any other battle, whether in Iraq or Syria,” the
officer said.

And AFP reports, "ISIS
militants forced Iraqi forces to retreat Wednesday after fierce
fighting in the city of Beiji, close to the country’s biggest oil
refinery, a local official and tribal leader said."

The link goes to a Reuters report by Ned Parker and Ahmed Rasheed who are both strong reporters and have many Iraq bylines to point to with pride.

I wouldn't include the latest article on a list of pride.

Six paragraphs before what the picture captures is touched on?

And an article that buries the main point?

In addition, there's what reads like the acceptance of murder.

Suspects who are tortured -- which is what Parker and Rasheed are
reporting though they refuse to name it -- and then murdered? That's
not democracy. And if you can't report what's happening, if that's
beyond your scope, you pick up the phone and dial Dr. Who's It at
Generic University who teaches on ethics and human rights and get a
quote from him or her explaining how repugnant and offensive the
slaughter of suspects is.

If the thugs had done the same thing in Iraq to a collie and it had been reported, I believe there would be global outrage.

How sad that when it's done to humans, there's an acceptance and willingness to move on to the next topic.

At the Boston Globe, Stephen Kinzer observes, "In Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has failed to achieve any of
the goals we set when we first invaded. Both countries are consumed by
violence and terror. This is the very definition of defeat. Yet even
President Obama, who did not launch these wars, seems reluctant to end
them by saying simply, “We can’t win, so let’s admit it and withdraw.”
Whatever the reality, Americans do not like admitting that we can lose
at anything. Yet persisting in lost causes weakens us as a nation. Our
enemies gleefully wear us down while our friends lament our
shortsightedness."